US Navy Aircraft Carriers

US Navy aircraft carriers have been the force of choice for international military response since World War II. In fact, aircraft carriers have been relied on to handle incidents of international violence 80 percent of the time, and the need for these ships to respond in a crisis has continued to grow.

An aircraft carrier is a small piece of sovereign United States territory moving through international waters—waters that cover approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface and provide ready access for necessary operations—from being a watchful U.S. presence where needed to providing forceful intervention. It is a base of operations that does not require permission from a host country or construction of a fixed base. These facts have contributed mightily to the carrier’s prominent role in the United States of America’s military presence around the world.

The first reference to an aviation component within the U.S. Navy Department dates back to 1910. Later that same year, a civilian pilot in a 50-hp Curtiss plane took off from a platform over the bow of the USS Birmingham, an early cruiser, and landed on the nearby shore. Just two months later, he was able to land on a platform built on another cruiser, the USS Pennsylvania. In 1911, the first Navy officer completed flight training and became Naval Aviator No. 1.

In 1922, the first US Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, was commissioned, converted from the collier Jupiter and equipped with catapults at each end of the “flying-off” deck. The first flight from the U.S.’s first aircraft carrier occurred in October of that year. Two more carriers, converted from unfinished cruisers, quickly followed. USS Langley moved from experimental to operational status in November 1924.

The USS Ranger, commissioned in 1934, was the first U.S. ship to be designed and originally constructed as a carrier, rather than concerted from another warship. Also in 1934, the Navy authorized the manufacture and testing of the flush-deck hydraulic catapult, designed to launch planes from the carriers.

The December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor was carried out from Japanese carriers. But the US Navy aircraft carriers were not present at Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack. The closest, USS Enterprise, was approximately 200 miles away.

The February 1942 attack on Japanese installations in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands was the first aircraft carrier offensive by the U.S. Navy. The 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea was the world’s first naval engagement in which the opposing ships did not make contact.

The carriers played a vital role during World War II. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944, for example, U.S. carriers took out four massive waves of Japanese aircraft, downing 395 of the 430 aircraft involved in the attack. U.S. air strikes also took out a Japanese carrier and two tankers. During the war, the Secretary of the Navy set up the Office of the Deputy Chief of Navy Operations (Air), with John S. McCain, grandfather of Senator John McCain III, serving as the first Deputy Chief.

In 1946, the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42) was deployed to the port at Athens to show support for the Greek government, which was fighting a civil war against Communist rebels. This was the first example of using an aircraft carrier as a “forward presence”—a role that has become increasing important for the carriers.

The US Navy aircraft carriers were used again in the Korean War, with the USS Valley Forge making the first carrier strikes of the conflict. Carrier operations, both attack and support, were continuous in Korea for nearly three years. The Korean War saw the first use of a Navy fighter jet as a bomber, when two F9F-2B Panthers dropped bombs on a bridge near Songjin.

Aircraft carrier systems improved in a number of ways through the 1950s and 1960s. In the summer of 1957, the Automatic Carrier Landing System (ACLS) was used for the first time to land a plane on the carrier. The system allowed for planes to land on the carrier in any weather without the pilot’s participation. That same summer, four Navy planes completed the first nonstop, transcontinental, carrier-to-carrier flight from the carrier USS Bon Homme Richard off the California coast to the USS Saratoga off the coast of Florida. And in 1961, the Pilot Landing Aid Television system (PLAT) was first installed for operational use, providing video of every landing; and in 1962, nose-tow gear was tested, which has reduced launch intervals and improved flight deck safety.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, aircraft carriers were active along the coasts of Vietnam—used for a variety of operations from patrolling the coastal waters and providing defense for other ships to attacking enemy ships and onshore targets. Carrier-based attacks were used in the campaign to destroy North Vietnam’s oil and petroleum storage and distribution networks.

The carriers have been involved in disaster relief and support for the space program as well. In 1955, the carrier USS Saipan (CVL 48) performed rescue and relief operations in Tampico, Mexico, where Hurricane Hilda had caused heavy flooding and left thousands stranded on rooftops and in trees. Helicopters from the carrier rescued 5,439 people and delivered 183,017 pounds of food to residents. In 1965, the carrier USS Boxer (LPH 4) airlifted more than 1,000 people out of the Dominican Republic during a revolt, evacuating them to Navy ships waiting nearby. The carriers also were called on to recover astronauts after splashdowns, including Cmdr. Alan Shepard after the first American space flight.

US aircraft carriers, which include the largest warships in the world, are still evolving. The newest class of carrier is already under construction. They continue to serve their mission of providing the cornerstone for maritime crisis forces, a strong forward presence and peacetime deterrence and a base for troop support and protection.

The following information is taken from the U.S. Navy’s list of carriers. Select the name of any carrier to read a full profile.

  • USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), commissioned November 11, 1989, still active
  • USS America (CV 66), commissioned January 23, 1965, decommissioned August 9, 1996
  • USS Antietam (CV 36), commissioned January 28, 1945, decommissioned May 8, 1963
  • USS Bataan (CVL 29), commissioned November 17, 1943, decommissioned April 9, 1954
  • USS Belleau Wood (CVL 24), commissioned March 31, 1943, decommissioned January 13, 1947
  • USS Bennington (CV 20), commissioned August 6, 1944, decommissioned January 15, 1970
  • USS Bon Homme Richard (CV 31), commissioned November 26, 1944, decommissioned July 2, 1971
  • USS Boxer (CV 21), commissioned April 16, 1945, decommissioned December 1, 1969
  • USS Bunker Hill (CV 17), commissioned May 25, 1943, decommissioned July 9, 1947
  • USS Cabot (CVL 28), commissioned July 24, 1943, decommissioned January 21, 1955
  • USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), commissioned March 13, 1982, still active
  • USS Constellation (CV 64), commissioned October 27, 1961, decommissioned August 7, 2003
  • USS Coral Sea (CVB 43), commissioned October 1, 1947, decommissioned April 26, 1990
  • USS Cowpens (CVL 25), commissioned May28, 1943, decommissioned January 13, 1947
  • USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), commissioned October 18, 1977, still active
  • USS Enterprise (CV 6), commissioned May 12, 1938, decommissioned February 17, 1947
  • USS Enterprise (CVN 65), commissioned November 25, 1961, still active
  • USS Essex (CV 9), commissioned December 31, 1942, decommissioned June 20, 1969
  • USS Forrestal (CVA 59), commissioned October 1, 1955, decommissioned September 30, 1993
  • USS Franklin (CV 13), commissioned January 31, 1944, decommissioned February 17, 1947
  • USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42), commissioned October 27, 1945, decommissioned October 1, 1977
  • USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), commissioned January 10, 2009, still active
  • USS George Washington (CVN 73), commissioned July 4, 1992, still active
  • USS Hancock (CV 19), commissioned April 15, 1944, decommissioned January 30, 1976
  • USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), commissioned July 25, 1998, still active
  • USS Hornet (CV 8), commissioned October 20, 1941, decommissioned October 26, 1942
  • USS Hornet (CV 12), commissioned November 20, 1943, decommissioned May 26, 1970
  • USS Independence (CVL 22), commissioned January 14, 1943, decommissioned August 28, 1946
  • USS Independence (CV 62), commissioned January 10, 1959, decommissioned September 30, 1998
  • USS Intrepid (CV 11), commissioned August 16, 1943, decommissioned March 15, 1974
  • USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67), commissioned September 7, 1968, decommissioned March 23, 2007
  • USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), commissioned December 8, 1995, still active
  • USS Kearsarge (CV 33), commissioned May 2, 1946, decommissioned January 15, 1970
  • USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), commissioned April 29, 1961, decommissioned May 12, 2009
  • USS Lake Champlain (CV 39), commissioned June 3, 1945, decommissioned May 2, 1966
  • USS Langley (CV 1), commissioned March 20, 1922, decommissioned February 27, 1942
  • USS Langley (CVL 27), commissioned August 31, 1943, decommissioned February 11, 1947
  • USS Lexington (CV 2), commissioned December 14, 1927, decommissioned May 8, 1942
  • USS Lexington (CV 16), commissioned February 17, 1942, decommissioned November 8, 1991
  • USS Leyte (CV 32), commissioned April 11, 1946, decommissioned May 15, 1959
  • USS Midway (CVB 41), commissioned September 10, 1945, decommissioned April 11, 1992
  • USS Monterey (CVL 26), commissioned June 17, 1943, decommissioned January 16, 1956
  • USS Nimitz (CVN 68), commissioned May 3, 1975, still active
  • USS Oriskany (CVA 34), commissioned September 25, 1950, decommissioned September 20, 1979
  • USS Philippine Sea (CV 47), commissioned May 11, 1946, decommissioned December 28, 1958
  • USS Princeton (CVL 23), commissioned February 25, 1943, decommissioned October 24, 1944
  • USS Princeton (CV 37), commissioned November 18, 1945, decommissioned January 30, 1970
  • USS Randolph (CV 15), commissioned October 9, 1944, decommissioned February 13, 1969
  • USS Ranger (CV 4), commissioned June 4, 1934, decommissioned October 18, 1946
  • USS Ranger (CV 61), commissioned August 10, 1957, decommissioned July 10, 1993
  • USS Reprisal (CV 35) Never completed nor commissioned.
  • USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), commissioned July 12, 2003, still active
  • USS Sable (IX-81), commissioned May 8, 1943, decommissioned November 7, 1945
  • USS Saipan (CVL 48), commissioned July14, 19f46, decommissioned January 14, 1970
  • USS San Jacinto (CVL 30), commissioned December 15, 1943, decommissioned March 1, 1947
  • USS Saratoga (CV 3), commissioned November 16, 1927, decommissioned July 26, 1946
  • USS Saratoga (CVA 60), commissioned April 14, 1956, decommissioned August 20, 1994
  • USS Shangri-La (CV 38), commissioned September 15, 1944, decommissioned July 30, 1971
  • USS Tarawa (CV 40), commissioned December 8, 1945, decommissioned May 13, 1960
  • USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), commissioned October 25, 1986, still active
  • USS Ticonderoga (CV 14), commissioned May 8, 1944, decommissioned Sepember 1, 1973
  • USS Valley Forge (CV 45), commissioned November 3, 1946, decommissioned January 15, 1970
  • USS Wasp (CV 7), commissioned April 25, 1940, decommissioned September 15, 1942
  • USS Wasp (CV 18), commissioned November 24, 1943, commissioned July 1, 1972
  • USS Wright (CVL 49), commissioned February 9, 1947. last decommissioned May 27, 1970
  • USS Yorktown (CV 5), commissioned September 30, 1937, decommissioned June 7, 1942
  • USS Yorktown (CV 10), commissioned April 15, 1943, decommissioned June 27, 1970

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